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Merkel's 'Just' Wages

Updated Dec. 21, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

Minimum wages are one of the few economic fallacies that Germany has been spared. So far, that is. That lucky period is drawing to a close, with the predictable consequences for unemployment statistics.

Lawmakers yesterday approved a minimum wage for workers in the postal sector -- &euro;9.80 an hour ($14.1) in the more affluent western party of the country and &euro;8 in the east. Even before the vote, private mail-delivery companies reacted to the plan with job and investment cuts. One such company, PIN, has already...